Auto-Immune Disease & Diabetes and Colostrum

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Wed, 11/05/2008 - 09:12 — Avinaut

COLOSTRUM OPTION: The Life Link Needed For a Healthy, Vital Life
Part III: Auto-Immune Diseases and Diabetes

Introducing readers to the wonders of Colostrum, an incredible healing food that gives an amazing boost to the body’s immune system, as well as helps repair much of the damage caused by both diseases and aging, is the book: Colostrum : Mother Nature’s healthy alternative for every generation! Written by Dr. Lance S. Wright and Anthony Kleinsmith.

Colostrum is actually a non-milk substance secreted by the mammary gland of all female mammals during the later months of pregnancy. This secretion increases dramatically just before the mother gives birth, and then stops at birth, either it is used by the baby or reabsorbed by the mother, at which time, regular breast milk begins to be secreted. Thus, the first real meal of most babies, is the perfect combination of all the necessary immune and growth factors. In fact, these components are not naturally found anywhere else in such high concentrations. Besides jump starting the baby’s immune system, and stimulating growth, colostrum also promotes very rapid healing. All in all, it is estimated that the ingredients in colostrum work to activate at least fifty different physical processes in the newborn body, all of which are vital to health and growth.

Auto-immune diseases are caused by the damage done by the immune system when it cannot turn itself off. The substances that trigger this hyper-response of the immune system are known as allergens. Leaky gut syndrome (Part II) which responds to colostrum, is almost always associated with auto-immune disease and reversing the direction of a disease depends upon healing the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. Any other treatment is just symptom suppression.

Auto-immune diseases include lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Addison’s disease, childhood asthma, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, thyroididitis, vasculitis, Chrohn’s disease, colitis, and Raynaud’s disease.
Because a leaky gut allows proteins to be absorbed before they have had a chance to be completely broken down, the immune system does not recognize them. It sees these proteins as invaders and starts making antibodies. In other words, a protein from a food that was previously harmless now triggers a potentially serious allergic response.

The connection between colostrum, leaky gut, and allergic responses is most promising in regards to the most severe allergic reactions, the autoimmune disease that affects different parts of the nervous systems through the destruction of the myelin sheaths, the membrane that protects the body’s nerves. This destruction produces any number of symptoms, including blurred vision, staggering gait, numbness, dizziness, slurred speech, and even paralysis. In short, the results can be devasting.

These autoimmune diseases have been somewhat of a mystery to most health-care professionals, and most recommended treatments simply allowed for minor relief of pain and other symptoms. The difficulty came in figuring out how to “turn off” the immune response that was causing the damage.

In 1983, Polish researchers discovered a small protein chain called Polyprotein-rich Peptide (PRP) in colostrum. This immune factor was found to have the same ability to regulate the immune system as the hormones of the thymus gland. PRP is able to stimulate T-cell precursors to form helper T-cells, thereby prompting the immune system into action against pathogens. More impressive, however, in relation to autoimmune disease, is PRP’s ability to “turn off” the immune system. It does this by telling the T-cell precursors to produce T-suppressor cells. These are the cells that slow down an overactive immune response, thereby stopping the attack on the body’s own tissue.
Further studies showed that PRP was not species specific, meaning that PRP in bovine colostrum could be used very effectively to combat a multitude of autoimmune diseases. The growth factors also found in colostrum can then come in and repair any damage already done by an autoimmune disease. Growth factors in colostrum also work to stimulate tissue repair in the skin, the myelin sheath and other connective tissue throughout the body, reducing pain, swelling and increasing mobility and freedom.

Diabetes Type I, or juvenile onset diabetes, can also be considered an autoimmune disease. Tests showed that a protein called GAD, found in cow’s milk, can trigger an allergic response that damages the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Without insulin, the body is unable to use glucose for energy, so is forced to burn fat instead. The severe metabolic imbalance can lead to a dangerous condition called diabetic coma.

This type of diabetes seems to occur most often in children who did not receive colostrum at birth, or were not breast fed for long. The immune factors in colostrum increased the tolerance for GAD, preventing the allergic response.
But once an individual had developed Type I diabetes, the treatment options are very few. Generally, the condition is controlled with a combination of dietary restrictions, and daily insulin injections. A 1990 study suggested that colostrum supplementation would be a very beneficial treatment for diabetics, based on the fact that a key growth factor, IgF-1, can stimulate glucose utilization. Researchers found that plasma levels of IgF-1 were lower in diabetic patients than in healthy individuals. After administrating IgG-1 to patients, the doctors noticed a two-fold increase in glucose transport to the muscles. The IgF-1 in colostrum could painlessly do the job of the daily insulin injections most diabetics now have to endure.